The Vltava river, Prague
After 3 weeks of well below freezing temperatures down to as low as -20c in the city itself the big thaw finally came and the mercury shot up remarkably and with it came the inevitable changes that nature brings to the environment. The pictures here show the Vtava river in Prague on Wednesday 22nd of February. Around 7 km upstream is the confluence with the smaller Berounka river and it was this tributary that brought the ice.
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More in depth articles and media to follow concerning this Alaska trip but for now here is a short piece from US news channel KTVA.
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South Africans Ram Barkai and Andrew Chin have been pushing the boundaries of extreme cold water swimming for several years having swum in various places including Antarctica. After a stamina sapping 43 minute (2.3km) swim in 4c Lake Zurich in 2009 Barkai stated
“That was an experience that gave me a sight of the end of The envelope. I decided I want to explore these types of swims, how far, how long, how cold, etc… and The best way was to formalize it, establish a formal body to regulate these swims and from that spread The word and share The experience of every ice swimmer around The world.”
Consequently, the international ice swimming asssociation was born. In the words of Barkai the aims of the association are
“To understand ice swimming better. Its impact on the human body. The role of the human mind in the process and to formalise ice swims around The world. Gain experience from everyone around The world.”
A positive development for extreme cold water swimming, who knows, perhaps in the future winter swimming could be a part of the winter olympics?
Ram Barkai
Starting the 300m subterranean voyage
The Moravian Karst close to Blansko in the district of Moravia in the Czech Republic is a magical subterranean world of abysses, spectacular caves and a mysterious underground river that springs from deep with the karst system – Punkva.
The area was first widely explored in the 18th century and since then it has been a hive of activity for speleologists and geologists and since the 1950′s….winter swimmers!
The famous Oldrich Liska from Prague first swam within the caves by taking a boat trip and then simply jumping into the cold water for the return journey.
He came back several times and along with the well known speleologist and diver Karel “Tunnel” Divisek and other prominent long distance and winter swimmers. Thus the tradition of swimming down the Punkva river in the Moravian Karst was born. for the last 60 years the opening of the winter swimming season in the Czech republic has been held here and every year it is over subscribed. This year, in 2011 around 50 swimmers were unlucky enough to have their applications refused and a total of 177 entered the cave system by boat and swum back out to the open wide world.
This kind of swim in an underground river with a constant water temperature of around 8c, surrounded by amazing Karst formations such as stalactites is a unique experience. The venue, the atmosphere and the incredible feeling of reaching the real world again after a short voyage in the underbelly of the earth combined with the actual swim itself to make this an unforgettable event – even for those winter swimmers who have experienced it many time before.
Enjoy the photos and watch out as in a few weeks there will be a short video from this amazing event published right here! That alone is worth coming back for.
From left, Bright, Kurina & Benes
Early autumn is a transitional period for open water swimmers. The main season finishes as the water is beginning to call down as the air temperature at night drops dramatically and doesn’t get above 10c until lunchtime here in central europe. The there is generally a pleasnt afternoon until again the mercury plummets with the sunset in the early evening.
Consequently the Labe (Elbe) river was just 13.8c on the final sunday of September. Three swimmers decided to swim from Hradec Kralove to Pardubice, a total distance of some 27km when factoring in the winding nature of the river between these two towns.
Assured by organiser and participating swimmer Jiri Kurina that there was more water and therefore a stronger current to help us than last year when it took around 5.5 hours to swim 21kilometres the 3 of us ste off at 8.45 with high hopes of a trouble free passage and maybe some late afternoon, post swim sunbathing.
After manging the first 6km in around 1h 55m, it was clear that although this wasn’t the English channel, it also wasn’t going to be easy. At this point we had to leave the water briefly and re enter a few metres downstream of the weir. Bananas and tea were consumed as the shivering started and although the water was just over 14c it still felt fairly frosty as we made our way again. The water was shallow and fast flowing and the following 45 minutes was an interesting swim with little sunlight as the narrow river was surrounded by thick tree cover. Then, the first big problem struck but with a support canoe not a swimmer. The canoe got lodged inbetween the branches of a large tree at a rather fast flowing point. Swimmers swam against the current and helped effect a rescue and after 20 minutes or so the journey could continue. But, there was a casualty at this point as Jirka Benes succumbed to cramp and withdrew leaving just 2.
Jiri "salmon" Kurina striking for home
The difficult passage continued for sometime and the water began to warm up in a few places which produced a pleasant sensation for a few seconds followed by an equally unpleasant sensation as the swimmers returned to colder water.
A short break followed at small island spit and then after another 30 minutes or so of swimming, the second of the 3 swimmers, Jack Bright, gave in to the cold after over 5 hours in the water. Around 18km had been swum and it wasn’t long before the river would get up top a stable 17c but Bright was constantly shivering and had been battling to keep going for a while. He obviously needs to eat more!
The final 8km was fairly strightforward in the 17c water although the final swimmer left going (Jiri Kurina) had now been swimming all day. Kurina showed yet again his huge reserves of stamina and strong determination not to mention his ability to repel the cold. Sometime around 6.30 he made it to the finish in Pardubice, some 9.5 hours and 27km after getting into the water.
Lone swimmer Kurina as seen from a support Kayak
The fruits ripen, the air cools, the summer ends and with it the long distance swimming season. However, some people are determined to keep going with marathon swimming even with the water at 14c….a report will come soon from one such action that recently took place in one of Europe’s great rivers the Labe. (Elbe).
The winter swimming season is on the horizon again, especially here in the Czech Republic with the traditional opening of the season due to take place next weekend in the underground Punkva river in Moravsky Kras. Cold water connoiseurs are already shivering with delight at the thought of another 6 months of frozen digits and chattering teeth.
As was already reported on this blog, there is winter style swimming available all year at Lake Baikal in Siberia and a short video offering a swimmers eye view will be uploaded soon so be sure to keep reading this blog as the leaves begin to fall, the darkness closes in and winter starts to awake.
This is one big beast of a lake. it holds one fifth of all the worlds fresh water and is extremely deep, 1637m at its deepest, ,making loch ness look like a puddle with a worm in it!
I was curious as to what to expect from the water, having heard varying reports of water temperatures ranging from 4 to 18c. I was prety sure I would find some cold water and I ifound more than a little. The 60km or so that I covered on foot , I can safely say the water was between 4 and 6c, measured both by my watch and by my traditional mercury themometer. When you are there you will realize that this huge expanse of water will only cool down in the few very shallow areas such as the Maloe more near Olkon Island, everywhere else it is contantly around 5c, even at the Golostnoyoe river delta where I though it might be shallower and possible warmer it was still 6c just 1 km southwest of the delta. As you would expect from a lake it is very flat with few waves although it can get very windy and apparently big waves are possible during storms. The water is amazingly trabsparent and a pleasure to swim in. However the best thing about the water is maybe the taste, it is excellent. Even in Listvyanka where 1 guide book states not of drinkable quality it tastes great and is fine to drink.
I swam 5 times for 10 or 15 minutes, considering I had come from 16c water and a contintental European summer I was happy with this as preparation for the Bering Streait swim.
Incidentally I only saw 1 other person swim in the lake and that was for about 10 seconds.
Lake Baikal has over 300 tributaries but only 1 river drains the lake – the mighty Angara. It really is a beautiful sigt to see the Angara river taking the water of Baikal lake downstream in the direction of Irkutsk. The Angara is as beautiful a river as Baikal is a lake and the water is just as clear and clean. Just a degree or 2 warmer than the lake it was about 6/7c where I swam halfway between Irkutsk and Listvyakna. and was a really enjoyable swim. At one point the river is slow and lazy and then you feel it pull and its faster. At the point where it starts flowing from Baikal its really quick, a speed of 21metres per minute. I don’t know what that is in cubics but it is a fair bit and pretty much sums up the power and vastness of this place.
After a hectic few days I simply haven’t had time to produce an in depth piece about the Bering Strait…..so instead I will shoot from the hip and tell you what I know off the top of my head.
The Bering Strait lies just outside the north polar circle and of course separates the USA from Russia. At its narrowest point there is just 86km between the 2 continents. However just 4km is the distance between Big Diomede and Little Diomede Island, the former Russian territory, the latter American.
A relatively shallow area with an average depth of between 30 and 49m makes for large waves and the proximity to the arctic sees harsh storms arrive with little or no warning. Water temperature on the surface around the end of July through to the end of August should be between 4c and 8c, though the mercury could dip to as low as 2c in places. Interestingly experienced Alaskan fishermen advocate keeping a watch out for sea ice even during the summer.
Getting to the area from either Europe/Asia or America is not easy. There are no roads and only a few airports with little tourist infrastructure, in fact few people inhabit the area around the Bering Strait on both sides. On the Russian side the area of Chutktka is self governing and is still considered as a restricted border zone, therefore it is very difficult to enter this region and a special permit must be granted from the local authorities and it isn’t simply a case of arriving and doing the paperwork, you must arrange it well in advance.
It is possible that back in time the Bering Strait wasn’t covered by water and this ridge of land connected the American and Eurasian continent providing a lbridge that allowed people to cross from Eurasia and populate America.
Winter swimming may not be possible during winter as the Bering Strait is frozen so we will attempt the crossing at the end of July when the water is at its warmest and with mother nature on our side we will make it to the other side.
For more information about the swim see here
Just two days before my departure to Russia and here is some more information about the exciting Bering Strait relay swim:
The international relay swim across the Bering Strait is scheduled for the interval from July 17 to August 10, 2011. The schedule is as follows (approx):
1. Demonstration swim in Avacha Bay, dedicated to the memory of and celebrating the 270th anniversary of Bering and Chirikov, pioneers of Russian America, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (19-20 July 2011)
2. Participation of swimmers in the celebration of Chukotka “Berengo” festival, Anadyr (23-24 July 2011)
3. A showcase swim in the bay for the guards Holding (PJSC), 26-27 July 2011
4. Start of the international relay swim: Cape Dezhnev by: Fr. Ratmanov – Fr. m. Diomede – Cape Charles of Wales. Launch day is determined by the on-site weather conditions in the range from 28 to 30 July.
5. Swim to be implemented within two days without stopping for the night.
6. Finish in the waters of Alaska (Cape Prince of Wales Charles, Nome).
7. Press conference in Anchorage and Seattle (USA).
The above satellite image shows the Bering Strait in the middle with Chukotka (Russia) on the left and Alaska (USA) on the right. Tomorrow more information about this little known and inhabited part of our earth….
Whether we can officially call it winter swimming when it is taking place during summer I dont know but what I do know is that it will be cold….very cold.
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As I said, check out the official swim website here and I will be updating with more information soon.
